ePub General History of Africa: The African Slave Trade from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century: The General History of Africa; Studies and Documents v. 2 by From United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural in History

Description

This is the story of the fighting underground of the Jews of Kovno; Lithuania; in World War II. The authors; historians Zvie A. Brown and Dov Levin; were themselves members of the Kovno underground; and this well-researched book based on documentary material; verbal testimonies; and written memoirs of witnesses; among other sources is supplemented by the authors own personal accounts. The authors here describe the first steps of the organized Jewish underground in the Kovno Ghetto; its desperate search for allies outside the ghetto; and its first bloodstained attempts to break through the ring of isolation and establish a base of support for partisan battle. They relate the insurgence at its height: contacts with partisans in the forest; acquisition of weapons and equipment; and training of fighters for partisan warfare. They also analyze the complex relationship between the Jewish fighting organization on the one hand; and the Council of Elders and the Jewish police on the other; as well as the active assistance these official organizations gave to the underground. The text goes on to describe the operations of the partisans; many of whom were fighters from the Kovno Ghetto; and the process by which the fighters were accepted into Soviet partisan units. The authors paint a picture of daily life in the partisan brigades; including the tense relationship between the Jewish and non-Jewish fighters. They relate the final days of the underground as the ghetto was being destroyed; and then the last journey of the Kovno brigades from the forest bases back to liberated Kovno.